A firm stand by the French egg sector, which has grown weary of retailers’ delays in absorbing the additional cost imposed on eggs by the mandatory in-ovo sexing requirement, and which has unilaterally established a new system to pass this cost increase on “in cascade” throughout the supply chain.
The French Egg Interprofessional Organisation (CNPO) has announced a fundamental and significant change in the financing model for ovosexing (in-ovo sexing). This decision, taken unilaterally in October 2025 and unanimously by the members of its Board of Directors, seeks to simplify the system, ensure the economic viability and continuity of in-ovo sexing, and ensure that this increase in egg costs is passed on to end consumers (whether private individuals or industry) rather than being yet another additional cost to be absorbed by laying hen producers.
The sector has been compelled to transform the management of this costly yet crucial animal welfare measure, replacing the originally envisaged system — which was based on direct contributions from the retail sector — with a new system that passes on the additional cost of in-ovo sexing “in cascade” throughout the entire egg production chain, starting at the hatchery itself.
The new model will come into force on 1 December 2025.
Background: a costly commitment and an originally planned system that has not worked
Since late 2022, the CNPO has been providing financial support for the implementation of ovosexing in laying hen hatcheries, with the aim of eliminating the mass culling of male chicks at hatch.
This legislation places France as one of only three countries in Europe (alongside Germany and Italy) to have made in-ovo sexing mandatory. The measure represents a significant annual additional cost for the sector, estimated at more than 40 million euros.
The original financing system was based on a levy collected on shell egg sales across all distribution channels. Initially, an agreement was reached with major supermarkets to apply a voluntary surcharge to all eggs sold. From March, this surcharge was set at €0.39 per 1,000 eggs, with plans to reduce it to €0.31 per 1,000 eggs and extend the agreement to wholesalers in September 2025.
Financial conflicts and the breakdown of the agreement
Despite these efforts, the interim system proved unsustainable. CNPO President Yves-Marie Beaudet noted that the previous system was “complex”, that its “financial balance was not assured” and that it “risked jeopardising the sector”.
Retailers showed consistent “reluctance” to fulfil their obligations, primarily due to the intense price war in which they are embroiled across all food products. Indeed, months before the decision to change the system, their organisations had walked out of the egg council, accusing the CNPO of failing to listen to their arguments.
Tensions came to a head in early 2025. In February 2025, the Confédération Française de l’Aviculture (CFA) went so far as to call for a complete halt to egg deliveries to retailers such as Carrefour and Leclerc, following the absence of large-scale retail representatives from a key meeting to finalise the agreement. Although deliveries resumed after retailers committed to reinstating a “voluntary levy”, the interim interprofessional agreement expired shortly afterwards, on 1 March 2025.
In response to this instability and conflict, the CNPO opted to unilaterally cancel the financial agreements, bringing forward the end of the interprofessional agreement that had been scheduled for September 2026.
What does the current picture look like?: full “cascade” pass-through across the entire egg production chain and sector protection against agreements broken by retailers.
The new financing system replaces contribution-based levies on sales with a model in which the costs of ovosexing are integrated directly into production costs.
From 1 December 2025, hatcheries (accouveurs) will be able to include the cost of ovosexing in the production cost of the chicks delivered to poultry farmers. This cost may subsequently be passed on freely to each link in the supply chain through to the end user.
This mechanism covers the three main markets in the chain: retail, foodservice/out-of-home catering, and food processing companies, whether for shell eggs or egg products.
To facilitate this transition and provide operators with appropriate tools to address the increase in production costs, the poultry research institute ITAVI will develop a new “Egalim” indicator for chick production costs that will incorporate the additional cost of in-ovo sexing.
Society must be consistent and accept that the higher cost of eggs resulting from in-ovo sexing will ultimately be paid one way or another by the consumer. Yves-Marie Beaudet praised the measure, describing it as a “responsible and courageous decision” by all sector members, which ensures the continuation of an animal welfare-focused approach and meets consumer expectations.
Pioneers of animal welfare?
Ahead of European guidelines?
A measure to protect against imports of eggs from outside France?
Time will tell, but one thing is clear: the more animal welfare measures there are, the greater the additional costs and the higher the price for the consumer.
Federico Castelló
Founder of NeXusAvicultura
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